Abstract
Extract: Glucose/oxygen quotients were determined across the hindlimbs of seven fetuses, for a total of five studies in fetuses of fed ewes and five studies in fetuses of fasted ewes. The glucose/oxygen quotient was found to be a function of the fetal arterial glucose concentration in mM, [a], described by the equation: glucose/oxygen quotient = - 0.047 + 1.46[a]. The dependence of glucose uptake by the fetal hindlimb upon arterial glucose concentration is the first demonstration of the effect of substrate availability on the metabolism of a fetal organ.
Speculation: The demonstration of glucose/oxygen quotients of 1.0 or greater for fetal tissues at a time in gestation when the umbilical glucose/oxygen quotient is 0.4–0.5 suggests two possible explanations: (1) there may be substrate specificity for oxidative metabolism for each fetal organ, and (2) non-glucose substrates such as amino acids taken up by the umbilical circulation may be utilized by the fetal liver for gluconeogenesis.
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Morriss, F., Boyd, R., Makowski, E. et al. Glucose/Oxygen Quotients across the Hindlimb of Fetal Lambs. Pediatr Res 7, 794–797 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197310000-00002
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197310000-00002